ROMGAZ
and the Chess Club Society "Elisabeta Polihroniade” of Bucharest
are staging a double round robin tournament with six top GMs: the world's highest
ranked player, Magnus Carlsen of Norway, who at the age of 19 has an Elo rating
of 2813. Ukrainian GM Ruslan Ponomariov is a former FIDE knockout world champion;
Boris Gelfand of Israel, winner of the FIDE World Cup in 2009; the top Chinese
player Wang Yue; Teimour Radjabov, the second highest ranked player of Azerbaijan,
and Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, the best Romanian player. The competition is taking
place from June 14th to 25th 2010 in Medias, Romania.
Round six summary
By GM Dorian Rogozenco
In the sixth round Carlsen extended his lead by winning with the black pieces
against Ponomariov. Magnus played the sharp King’s Indian Defence and
faced some problems in the middlegame. In order to get activity Black decided
to sac a pawn, which objectively speaking was a doubtful decision. Ponomariov
had many ways to secure clear advantage, but he allowed Carlsen to complicate
matters by a further exchange sac. After that in order to keep the advantage
White had to play very precisely. However, Ponomariov miscalculated something
and missed a double attack, suddenly finding himself in a worse position. The
Ukrainian wasn’t able to put up much resistance and Carlsen’s initiative
soon became decisive.
The two other games ended in draws, which was the logical outcome of a balanced
battle. Gelfand had no problems to equalize with the Vienna Variation against
Wang Yue, while Radjabov-Nisipeanu was an entertaining battle in the Queen’s
Gambit Accepted, in which Radjabov’s aggressive intentions were accurately
neutralized by the Romanian Grandmaster.
Results of round six (Sunday,
June 20, 2010) |
Radjabov, Teimour |
½-½ |
Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter |
Ponomariov, Ruslan |
0-1 |
Carlsen, Magnus |
Wang Yue |
½-½ |
Gelfand, Boris |
Ponomariov,Ruslan - Carlsen,Magnus [E81]
Kings' Tournament Bazna/Romania (6), 20.06.2010 [Rogozenco]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f3. Ruslan had no reasons to avoid
the Samisch Variation. 5...0-0 6.Nge2 Nbd7. In the third round against
Ponomariov Radjabov played 6...e5 but failed to equalize. 7.Be3 c5 8.d5 Ne5
9.Ng3 h5 10.Be2 h4 11.Nf1 e6 12.Nd2 exd5 13.cxd5 Bd7 14.0-0
14...b5. Otherwise it is not easy for Black to get counterplay. However,
after this pawn sac Black does not get sufficient compensation. 15.Nxb5 Bxb5
16.Bxb5 Rb8 17.a4 Nh5. After 17...a6 18.Bxa6 Rxb2 19.Rb1 White exchanges
Black's most active piece and remains with a a healthy extra pawn. 18.f4!
Nd7 19.Qg4 a6
The first critical moment of the game. 20.Bxa6. The simplest practical
solution was 20.Bxd7 Nf6 21.Qxh4 Qxd7 22.f5 Rxb2 23.Bg5 with large advantage
for White. Also good is 20.Bc6. 20...Rxb2 21.Rab1
21...Rxd2! Magnus felt that this exchange sac is Black's only chance
to complicate matters. 22.Bxd2 Bd4+
The second critical position. 23.Rf2? This is actually just a blunder.
After 23.Kh1 Black has many tricks, but White is able to defend and
keep the advantage. Few variations are: 23...Ndf6 24.Qf3 It is also possible
to take the pawn. (24.Qxh4 Nxe4 25.Be1! and White is better. If 25...Kg7
then 26.g4) 24...Ng3+ (doesn't work: 24...Nxe4 25.Qxe4
Ng3+ 26.hxg3 hxg3 27.f5+-) 25.hxg3 hxg3 26.Be1 Nxe4 27.Bxg3 Nxg3+ 28.Qxg3
Kg7 29.Rf2! and although Black still keeps the initiative, it is hardly sufficient
to compensate for the missing material. 23...Bxf2+ 24.Kxf2 Ndf6 25.Qf3 Qe8!
As Ponomariov admitted after the game, he missed this double attack. Black
wins back the pawn and remains with a better position. 26.e5 Qxa4 27.exf6
Qxa6 28.Bc3 Qc8. Black had a tactical solution to win White's weak pawns:
28...Qc4 29.f5 Nxf6! 30.Kg1 (30.Bxf6 runs into 30...Qc2+) 30...Ne4
and White is in troubles.
29.Kg1. The last chance for White was 29.f5! Qxf5 30.Qxf5 gxf5 31.Rb6
Rd8 32.Kf3 Rd7 33.Rb8+ Kh7 34.g4 hxg3 35.hxg3 and the activity of white pieces
would have secured good chances to escape with a draw. 29...Qf5 30.Rf1 Re8
31.Ba1 Ra8 32.Qe3 Kh7 33.Bb2 Rb8 34.Bc1 Rb1
After Black activated the rook he is winning. 35.Qe8 Qxd5 36.f5 gxf5 37.Qe3
Qd4 38.Qxd4 cxd4 39.Bg5 Rxf1+ 40.Kxf1 h3! 41.gxh3. 41.g3 Kg6 changes nothing,
of course. 41...Kg6 42.Bh4 Nf4 43.Bg3 Kg5 44.Bf2 Ne6 45.Ke2 f4 46.Kf3 d3
47.h4+ Kf5 48.Bb6 Nc5 49.h5 d2 50.Ke2 Ne4 0-1. [Click
to replay]
Radjabov,Teimour - Nisipeanu,Liviu-Dieter [D27]
Kings' Tournament Medias Bazna/Romania (6), 20.06.2010 [Rogozenco]
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 dxc4 4.e3 e6 5.Bxc4 c5 6.0-0 a6 7.Bd3 Nbd7 8.Re1
b5 9.a4 bxa4 10.Rxa4. A new move [Previously White fought for advantage
with 10.e4. 10...cxd4 11.Rxd4!? 11.exd4 Bb7 is equal. 11...Bb7 12.Nc3
Bc5
13.Rh4. A double-edged plan. The rook is certainly active if Black
castles short, but Nisipeanu showed that White might end up with the rook out
of the play. 13...Be7 14.Qe2 Nd5 15.Rh3 Nxc3 16.bxc3 Qc7 17.e4 Nc5.
Certainly not 17...Qxc3? 18.Bb2 Qc7 19.Bxg7. 18.Bc2 e5 19.Rh5 Bf6 20.Ng5.
After 20.Bg5 Bxg5 21.Nxg5 h6 22.Nf3 f6 23.Nh4 0-0 Black's position is at
least not worse. 20...h6 21.Nf3 Bc8 22.h3 Be6 23.g4
23...g5! Now the rook on h5 is in real danger. Black has several ways
to attack it, for instance Bg7, Nd7-f6, or the plan from the game. White needs
to be very creative to keep the balance and Radjabov manages to do so. 24.Rd1
Bd7 25.Rd5! Ne6. The threat is 26...Ng7. 26.Qd1. 26.h4 Qxc3 27.hxg5
hxg5 28.Rxh8+ Bxh8 29.Bxg5=. 26...Bb5. 26...Ng7?? runs into 27.Rxd7
Qxd7 28.Ba4. 27.h4 Qxc3. After 27...Ng7 28.hxg5 Nxh5 29.gxf6 Nxf6 30.Rxe5+
Kf8 31.g5 White has a strong initiative. 28.hxg5 hxg5 29.Rxh8+ Bxh8 30.Bxg5
Being in mutual time-trouble both players agreed to a draw. The position is
of course complicated and a lot of play is still possible, but objectively the
position is indeed about equal. Perhaps it was slightly easier to play
with Black after 30.Bxg5 Nxg5 31.Nxg5 Bf6 32.Nf3 Rd8. 1/2-1/2. [Click
to replay]
Wang,Yue - Gelfand,Boris [D39]
Kings' Tournament Medias Bazna/Romania (6), 20.06.2010 [Rogozenco]
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.e4 Bb4 6.Bg5 c5 7.Bxc4 cxd4 8.Nxd4
8...Qa5. Gelfand chooses a variation, which he himself faced with the
White pieces before. The main line goes 8...Bxc3+ 9.bxc3 Qa5. 9.Bd2
Qc5 10.Bb5+ Bd7 11.Nb3 Qe7. As Wang Yue recognized after the game, he didn't
know much theory here. Actually it is very difficult for White to get an advantage
in this line. 12.Bd3 Nc6 13.a3 Bd6 14.0-0. Gelfand played 14.Be3 a6
15.0-0 0-0 16.f4 e5 17.f5 Nd4 18.Nxd4 exd4 19.Bxd4 Bc5 20.Bxc5 Qxc5+ 21.Kh1
Bc6 22.Qf3 Rfe8 23.Qg3 Rad8 1/2-1/2 Gelfand,B (2695)-Tkachiev,V (2615)/Groningen
1997. 14...0-0
The position is equal. White's main problem is the misplaced knight on b3.
15.f4. 15.Bg5 h6 16.Bh4 Bf4=. 15...e5 16.f5. 16.Nd5 Nxd5 17.exd5
Nd4 18.Nxd4 exd4=. 16...Nd4 17.Bg5 Bc6 18.Bc4
18...Qd8! This queen retreat solves the problem of the pin - Black
prepares Bd6-e7. 19.Nd5 Bxd5 20.Bxd5 Be7 21.Bxf6 Bxf6. The opposite-coloured
bishops will soon lead to inevitable draw. 22.Kh1 Rc8 23.Rc1 Qb6 24.Rc3 Rxc3
25.bxc3 Nxb3 26.Bxb3 Qe3 27.Qf3 Qxf3 28.Rxf3 Rc8 29.a4 Rc5 30.g3 Kf8 31.Rd3
1/2-1/2. [Click to replay]
The audience at the Medias Category 20 Super-GM tournament
Current standings
Dorian Rogozenco in ChessBase Magazine 135
|
In his first video
survey GM Dorian Rogozenco looks back over the two great
top tournaments in Wijk an Zee and
Linares. He pays particular attention to two games of Shirov’s, which are
good examples of his always sharp but in the long run not always lucky play
in Wijk. At the same time Rogozenco characterises the differences between
the performance of the two WCh protagonists Anand and Topalov. Unlike his
future opponent in Wijk, the Bulgarian not infrequently took risks in Linares
and was rewarded with victory in the tournament. Rogozenco cites as an example
Topalov’s up-and-down victory over Grischuk. |
|
In the second video Rogozenco
presents the surprising victors of the Moscow and Aeroflot Opens. As yet
unknown in the West, it was the Russian GM Chernyshov who, due to a greater
number of victories, won in Moscow ahead of Bareev, Inarkiev and Le Quang
Liem. The Vietnamese GM did not only manage a shared first place in the
Moscow Open, but he also went on to win the Aeroflot-Open. At the end of
his video, Rogozenco takes a look at the latest situation chess Bundesliga
and at Werder Bremen’s victory over OSG Baden-Baden. |